MONTEREY PARK, Calif. — Select swimmers of the University of La Verne swimming teams posted some of the fastest times at this point in any season against top competition at the A3 Performance Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego, on Nov. 21-22 at East Los Angeles College.

The Leopards were the only NCAA Division III school in a meet full of top upper-division competition and still returned a number of swimmers to the evening finals. La Verne raced a total of 10 swimmers in the meet and each of them—with the exception of Maddie Lovrensky who swam faster only in national championshps—registered his or her personal bests in every event.

All of the times were faster than those at this point last season and even more impressive, every swimmer went faster than he or she did in last year's SCIAC meets.

Day 1

Highlighting Day 1 was All-American Maddie Lovrensky's fifth-place finish in the Championship Final of the 100 yard backstroke. The senior touched the wall at 56.05 seconds, her fastest time in the event in a non-national championship meet. Through meets of Sunday, she is ranked second in Division III in the event.

Mike Sanchez stepped up for the men in the 100 breaststroke. The senior recorded his lifetime best time of 57.89 to take 13^th overall in the event. The time is currently ranked 14^th in all of Division III.

Harry Bennett returned to the C-Final in the 100 breaststroke as well and recorded a time of 1:00.91.

Daniel Carpenter and Jarrett Peterson returned to the evening race of the 200 freestyle. Carpenter finished 25^th overall with a time of 1:43.69 and Peterson came in 29^th at 1:47.54.

Peterson also returned to the C-Final in the 100 backstroke and went 56.82.

Jacqui Rojas went 1:06.58 in the women's 100 breaststroke prelims and freshman Mary Hanna showed well in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:03.27.

Krislyn Cha registered a time of 1:01.25 in the 100 butterfly.

Day 2

Although she didn't make it to the Championship Final in the 200 backstroke, Lovrensky posted the current top Division III time of 2 minutes, 2.94 seconds to take 11^th overall. She became the first La Verne swimmer ever to own a top divisional time in any event at any point.

Carpenter broke the La Verne varsity record in the 100 freestyle, as he finished the race in 46.81. The time is good for 23^rd in the nation currently.

Sanchez scored points for the men for the second day in a row, taking 14^th overall in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:07.27.  He is ranked 13^th nationally in the event.

Bennett returned to the evening race of the 200 breaststroke and went 2:10.83.

Peterson made it back to the evening race of the 200 backstroke and came in at 2:00.63.

Felipe Avendano Vila narrowly missed the finals in the 200 butterfly, but slashed more than five seconds off his prelim time and touched the wall at 2:03.05.

Melanie Consiglio posted a time of 55.16 in the women's 100 freestyle

From head coach Pat Skehan:

On racing against top competition: "We essentially put our swimmers out of their league and they stepped up. They weren't afraid of anyone and raced effectively against upper-division competition. … It was an excellent meet for the Leopards."

On Maddie Lovrensky: "For Maddie, this was a huge step into the big leagues … You never know how kids will respond to tougher competition, but she really responded well. She swam faster every race and [her times] were the fastest of any non-national championship meets."

Up next: The Leopards will enjoy the Thanksgiving week off before commencing SCIAC season on Dec. 6 against Cal Lutheran.